The 2024 Seattle Snooker Open
And Its Qualifying Tournaments
OX Billiards, June 22nd - 24th.
Sponsorship
The 2024 Seattle Snooker Open is sponsored by The Washington State Snooker League (WSL), Jason Miller, Empire Billiards, and OX Billiards. The WSL was created by OX Billiards in Seattle and Empire Billiards in Redmond. WSL’s mission is to provide a snooker league that builds interest and skills across Washington. With the amount of new clubs in the area, the WSL aims to expand the league across the state. The WSL and its players added $1,500. Jason Miller is an avid support of snooker in America and has graciously offered support by adding $2,000. He and his company, WineCellars.com sponsored the 2023 WWS US Women’s Open.
We are proud of the support that we have for snooker. We want to acknowledge and thank the players of The Washington State Snooker League and Jason Miller for making the Seattle Snooker Open a huge success. Because of their support the total prize pot is $7,700 (with a full field.) In addition, a special thank you goes out to Empire Billiards who has sponsored the the trophies for the past two years, and will do so again this year.
2024 SSO Sponsors
The Seattle Snooker Open
The Seattle Snooker Open (SSO) will take place at OX Billiards from June 22nd - 24th. This marks the third year that OX will host the SSO. CC Yoo won the inaugural edition in 2022 vs Varun Juneja, and in 2023 Varun beat CC in the finals. Varun will be the number one seed in 2024.
SSO ‘23 Winner - Varun Juneja. Photo: Sandro Menzel
SSO ‘23 Finalists - CC Yoo and Varun Juneja. Photo: Sandro Menzel
In the SSO ‘23 semifinals, it was the Americans vs Canadians. Varun Juneja beat Ross Bradsen and CC Yoo beat Brady Golan. The Americans held their home field advantage in this mini border battle.
SSO ‘23 Semifinalists - CC Yoo, Brady Golan, Ross Bradsen, and Varun Juneja. Photo: Sandro Menzel
The capacity for the Seattle Snooker Open is 28 players. The entry fee is $200 with included greens fees of $50. Players can enter a qualifier for $150 and earn a spot in the SSO if they are finalists. More about qualifiers below.
Qualifying Tournaments and the WSL
A lot of entries will be players who have qualified either through the Washington State Snooker League (WSL) or through a qualifying tournament. Seven clubs will host qualifiers. Each club can have up to two qualifiers if they choose. Please contact the individual club directly for info about their qualifier.
Here are some highlights about the qualifiers in each stop:
The entry fee for the qualifier is $150.
The player capacity for the qualifier is 16.
Both finalists will earn a paid spot into the SSO plus some cash.
First place will earn a bye through the group stage of the SSO.
The deadline to turn in the qualifier results is June 1st.
Seven clubs will host a qualifier
Two players have already qualified for the SSO through the Washington State Snooker League Season 4. It was a very close finish between first and second. First place winner, Alex Newstead and second place, Kevin Keui finished with a difference of 0.01 points. They are both great competitors in the Seattle area and earned a paid entry into the SSO.
Open Entry
Players can enter the Seattle Snooker Open without qualifying, if there is room under the capacity. Players who do not qualify will be seeded lower than the players who qualified.
Seeding
The Seattle Snooker Open uses geographical seeding in order to seed spots 2 - 28. Meaning that all first place winners of the qualifiers are seeded by how close they are to OX Billiards. For instance, the players who qualify at Empire Billiards will be ranked higher than players who qualified at Chicago Snooker.
The top eight seeds will have a bye in the group stage and will be waiting in the Last 16.
First place winners will be seeded before second place winners using the order below (Also, see pic below.) If a club has two qualifiers, then the first qualifier will be seeded higher than the second:
Last Year’s Winner, Varun Juneja
OX Billiards, Seattle, WA
Empire Billiards, Redmond, WA
In The Pocket Snooker Club, Rochester, WA
Top 147, Richmond, BC
Legends Billiard Room, Beaverton, OR
Embassy Billiards, San Gabriel, CA
Chicago Snooker, Chicago, IL
Washington State Snooker League, 1st and 2nd finishers of Season 4
Sample seeding
The group stage seeding begins with overall seeds 9 - 28 giving preference to the higher ranked seeds. See chart below:
Group Stage Seeding
Prize Pot and Payout
The Seattle Snooker Open 2024 will have a $7,700 prize pot and will pay out through the quarterfinals. The Washington State Snooker League added $1,500 to the pot, and Jason Miller added $2,000.
First Place: $2,700
Second Place: $1,800
Semifinals (2): $1000
Quarterfinals (4): $300
Once again and for the past two years, Empire Billiards will be sponsoring the Seattle Snooker Open trophy.
SSO Trophy sponsored by Empire Billiards
Format
The first round is a group stage. The group stage is a round robin with four groups of five players. Each match is a best of three. The top two players in each group will advance to the Last 16. The eight players who advance from the group stage are paired up against the top seed, Varun and seven other players that earned a bye.
The quarterfinals will be a best of five, the semifinals a best of five, and the finals a best of nine.
Day One - June 22nd
Round-robin - four groups of five, best of three matches. Top two players advance.
Day Two - June 23rd
Finish Round Robin and,
Last 16 - Best of three.
Day Three - June 24th
Quarterfinals - best of five.
Semifinals - best of five.
Finals - best of nine.
Live Stream and Attendees
OX will live-stream the SSO as usual, but it is encouraged to be there in person. The SSO is the predominant snooker tournament in the PNW with a national and international reach. The high intensity and energy can be felt by everyone in the room. There is no charge for watching it live. Join us at OX for cold drinks while watching some of the best snooker players in the PNW, Canada, L.A., and Chicago. We hope to see you there.
Click the button below for more info about a specific qualifier.